pairing wine with pizza and then meowing about it.

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deep thoughts

behold, the manifestation of my love of pizza and wine, a means of excusing any and all indulgences for the education and entertainment of nobody since nobody reads this stuff anyway. just look at the pretty pictures and leave a nice comment. thank you

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salmon

This week’s Nordic cuisine challenge involves flavors of gravlax, mustard and dill to hark back to Middle Age tradition. A rye crust seemed to offer a natural accompaniment, but while gathering the ingredients and confidence in plotting out my pizza submission, I failed to realize just what a pain the grain would be to work with.

Having flailed about the kitchen with dramatic huffs and puffs of frustration, I finally turned to my savvy boo of a husband for his opinion on rye and why it sucks as an ingredient. He offered condolences and immediately pulled up a video to show that I was not alone in my exasperation. Rye is apparently an asshole across all fields of cooking. Surprisingly, the dough turned out okay and involved only minor troubleshooting to roll out for action.

Traditionally, gravlax is with a mustard sauce known as Hovmästarsås, which was used as the base of the pizza. Hovmästarsås is a combination of mustard, dill, vinegar, salt and sugar.

Red onions and capers were tossed into the mix for a bit of exploratory flavors.

A light dusting of mozzarella helped round out the base while crème fraîche offered some silkier textures to seduce the palate.

Delicate as it is, gravlax entered onto the pizza during the cooling stages of the oven-crisped pie.

The gravlax itself was rather grassy and expressive on its own, but a garnish of dill helped to fortify the herbaceous quality.

Together with the rest of the ingredients, this style of pizza has immediate charm, especially when the wine is involved.

2. Melissa Clark video channel: every video is made to look like a simple three minute endeavor, inspiring back-to-back midnight snacks after a long night at work. The messy range of results never surpass the threshold of beauty worth sharing on instagram, but will do just fine tucked away here.

1. Hammond’s ice cream shop: helping san diegans achieve instant happiness with self-tailored ice cream flights. many classics exist amongst the Hawaiian-themed flavors, but all of them are worth a gamble when perched atop a mini cone. if the extreme cuteness of these waffle cones doesn’t inspire exclamations and high pitch noises, you’re probably dead inside.

BONUS

wine favorite: Saint Cosme – Condrieu 2012 a stunning showcasing of Viognier in its classic form with rich aromatics of peach blossoms and honeyed apricots to contrast the bright mineral core. so pretty it makes me want to die.

pizza favorite: Great Maple made a champion out of their bacon donuts, but their breakfast pizza is just as decadent with prosciutto, runny eggs, and truffle oil.

4. Legal Sea Foods clam chowder: a regional chain is still a chain but we go weak in the knees over this chowder, even when served at 6am at the airport.

3. Kimpton Hotels: after letting us check in obnoxiously early when it was -30 degrees outside, we pledged allegiance by signing up for their rewards program. (yaaay points). each hotel has personality without being diligently overdone with hipster sensibility. looking at you, Ace Hotels.

2. Neptune Oyster lobster roll: been chasing this dream for years. we practically built our trip around this sandwich and it would have made it to number one had there not been an incident immediately afterwards.

Perched overlooking the sleepy harbor of Point Loma, San Diego’s Pizza Nova is a spacious bayside joint cooking up wood-fired pizza amongst other restaurant standards. Aside from the expected basics of pepperoni and margherita, a range of non-traditional pies tempt the more adventurous with toppings not often found on pizza, such as pears, zucchini or thai flavors. Proximity to the sea seems to have had some minor influences on their chosen style as their eponymous signature pie features smoked salmon. Fluffed up with flavors of red onions, caper and goat cheese, the Pizza Nova pie is a tasty departure from loveable classics most swear allegiance to.

When ordered to-go, the freshly baked pizza kisses salmon with boxed-in heat, cooking in a bit more flaky texture and pink opaqueness. While the salmon brings a sweet smokiness to the overall profile, the capers are bright with ocean-like salinity and the goat cheese peps up each bite with a hit of grassy tang. The oily presence of fontina and mozzarella cheeses wants for a super palate cleanser of acidity while the most prominent flavor of salty brininess calls for something light and mineral-driven.

We return to the Loire Valley where Sancerre grows Sauvignon Blanc from a limestone-rich soil littered with fossilized seashells and capable of fostering a chalky minerality in these vibrant wines. Quintessential Sancerre is unoaked and bone dry with aromatics encompassing a broad spectrum, from green bell pepper to wet rocks to gooseberries. The 2013 Hippolyte Reverdy Sancerre is a clean, straightforward style with flavors of citrus blossom, tart lemon and grapefruit as well as contrasting tropical fruit aromas that are especially loud and lush when juxtaposed with the savory pizza elements. Enhanced with aromas of garlic and red onion, the sharp flavors on the pizza soften the edges on this piercing style of Sauvignon Blanc, balancing each other in turn.

One ingredient here truly secures this pairing: goat cheese. Sancerre and chèvre are a classic “grows together, goes together” combination, adhering to a culinary philosophy that resonates throughout cultures worldwide. While terroir may be an influential factor, the main driving force behind so many of these “perfect” pairings is more likely a matter of time and space. When food and wine find themselves at the dinner table again and again, regional preferences drive the two beyond mere coexistence into a balanced dynamic reinforced by generations of tradition. Since this culinary symbiosis requires ample time for coevolution, most examples of the phenomenon unsurprisingly emerge from the Old World, encompassing classics such as Muscadet and oysters or Nebbiolo and truffles. The many traditions are worth exploration and thoughtful engagement, but they should be considered handy tools rather than governing guidelines. Otherwise this whole business of pairing food and wine would prove way less fun.